Friday, April 26, 2013

We're hoping this badger is in the family way, and we can't even prove it's a she-badger.But she looks feminine, and she is doing all the right things.

She's spending an awful lot of time in this one burrow at the Chimineas Ranch, and the burrow has a huge tailing of fresh dirt.

And it's baby-badger-time-of-year. They give birth in March and April.

With the help of our trusty friend Craig, and his assistants, RandomTruth and I spent a few days at the ranch last month setting cams at carnivore dens.

At this promising den I set a Sony s600 for stills, and a Bushnell Trophy for videos of playful badger babies.

Regrettably, the Trophy can't be set for night time only, so there's been a flurry of false triggers in the heat of the day.

Craig, our good man in Chimineas has been cleaning the lenses and checking the memory cards.

Here's his most recent message.

"It seems that the badger shots decreased quite a lot over the course of the month. I'm hoping it's because she had youngsters.

As the badger usage decreased, Heermann's kangaroo rat visitation increased. There are many shots of them bouncing around the entrance to the den.

When I reset the camera, I saw that there was a rodent hole just above the badger den. It seems unwise for a fossorial small mammal to have a den next to a badger den, but kangaroo rats were never known for their smarts.

Raccoons visited the den and sniffed around a few times over the course of the set. I still think that the badger is using this den."

Knock on wood, my friends.

Let us hope the blessed event has transpired and that mom is blissfully nursing her litter.